“Cognitive Dissonance and the Complexities of Existence: A Comparative Analysis of Cloud Atlas and Kafka on the Shore.”

Abstract

In the course of this research paper, the authors sought to analyse how Mitchell and Murakami provide complex details of cognitive dissonance through their Cloud Atlas, Kafka on the shore narratives. Mitchell writes in a kind of palindromic fashion that has the purpose of altering the reader’s expectations concerning time and causality; Murakami employs similar non-linear structures in character motivations and the characters psychological struggles.The paper aims at examining the contribution of cognitive dissonance in the potential of character development and personality changes; the portrayal of moral traits; and the assessment of feelings in individuals more sophisticated. The primary themes are: identity, – the play is focused on identity issues, reality and appearance – Cross-dressing contributes to disguise. Commentary concerning the concepts of the illusory image, gender, and inter textual strategies, it became evident that the line between what is real and the facade constructed by the characters as well as the writers of the inter-texts indicated in the text is not clear. The intertextuality, allusions to the classic literature, and the elements borrowed from Japanese culture as well as theme as superimposed not only serve as a call for readers to doubt the tales being presented, the construction of subjectivity, and the boundaries between fictional and real worlds. Thus, through analysing these novels more thoroughly, this paper will compel thought and reflection among readers, thereby disrupting static thinking about literature and its ability to help navigate the world around us.